The fiancée
("K-1") visa enables a U.S. citizen's fiance(e) to come to
the United States to marry. The U.S. citizen (the "petitioner") must establish
to the satisfaction of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
that he or she and the foreign national fiancee:

1.
Have a bona fide intention to marry; 2.
Are legally able to marry; 3.
Are willing to marry within 90 days from the date the fiance(e) enters the
U.S.; and, 4. Have met, in person, within
two years immediately preceding the filing the fiance(e) visa petition. (USCIS may
waive this rule where the applicant can prove extreme hardship or that such a
meeting would violate long-established customs of the foreign fiancee's culture
or society, such as where marriages are traditionally arranged by the parents of
the contracting parties and the prospective bride and groom are prohibited from
meeting subsequent to the arrangement and prior to the wedding
day.)

The U.S.
citizen petitioner must also establish to the satisfaction of USCIS that any
and all other aspects of the traditional arrangements have been or will
be met in accordance with custom or practice. Failure to establish that the
petitioner and the foreign fiancee have met within the required period
or that compliance with the requirements should be waived will result in denial
of the U.S. citizen's petition. Without the
approval of a separate petition on his or her behalf, a child of the foreign
fiancee may get the same "K" visa classification as if accompanying or
following to join the fiance(e).

WARNING:
The foreign fiance(e) should remain overseas until arrangements for the
fiance(e)'s children are complete.

If
the petition is denied, USCIS will notify the petitioner of the reasons for
the denial and of the petitioner's right to appeal in accordance with federal
regulations. If the petition is approved, it is referred to the overseas
U.S. consulate for consular processing. U.S. consulates are authorized
to charge $400.00 for a consular processing fee, which can take several
months in some countries. The process is generally much quicker than
a situation in which the U.S. citizen marries the alien in the foreign
country and then files a relative immigrant visa petition in the United
States, however. This latter process can take many months. Support
requirements (Affidavit of Support) are handled by the National Visa Center
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. U.S. consulates are entitled to updated financial
information from the U.S. citizen fiance(e) during consular processing. The alien fiance(e) will enter the United
States with a K-1 visa, valid for 120 days. Our office assists our alien
clients with consular processing overseas and adjustment of status in the United
States after the marriage. If the couple does not marry within 90 days after
the alien fiance(e) enters the United States, his or her stay in K-1
visa status terminates and he or she must leave the United
States.

International
Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005

On
January 5, 2006, President Bush signed the International Marriage Broker
Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA) into law as part of the reauthorized Violence
Against Women Act. IMBRA was enacted to address alarming evidence
of a growing nationwide trend of abuse and exploitation of so-called "mail-order
brides". In an effort to prevent future tragedies, the new law imposes
regulations on the marriage-broker industry as well as making changes in
the process of by which American citizens can file petitions on behalf
of a foreign fiance(e) (K-1) or spouse (K-3) to come to the United States. For
most U.S. citizens -- who are not marriage brokers -- the change is a mandated
criminal background check that must be completed before the case can go forward
to the U.S. consulate for consular processing. These background checks have caused delays
in K-1 visa petition processing at USCIS service centers. Processing was consolidated
at the California Service Center in Laguna Niguel.

What
to do after the marriage

After the parties
get married within the 90 days, the alien spouse will file
a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status,
as well as applications for employment authorization and re-entry permits.
An approved application for adjustment of status entitles the alien spouse to conditional
permanent resident status (CPR). The "green card" that the alien
spouse receives is valid for two years, with overseas travel
authorized as well as employment authorization. Within 90 days of the
second anniversary of the foreign spouse being granted conditional permanent resident (CPR) status,
the parties must apply for removal of the condition, and will be
scheduled for an interview at the local USCIS district office. Depending
upon the country of origin of the foreign spouse, this interview can
be either easy or difficult.

During
the marriage, the parties will need to begin preparing evidence to prove they
have a bona fide marriage. A short list of the types of evidence
needed follows:

•
Documentation showing joint ownership of property. • Lease showing joint
tenancy of a common residence. • Documentation showing
commingling of financial resources. • Birth certificates of
children born to the petitioner and beneficiary. • Affidavits of third
parties having knowledge of the validity of the marital
relationship. • Other documentation establishing that the marriage
was not entered into in order to evade U.S. immigration laws.

USCIS officers
look for "marriage fraud" factors, particularly if the country of origin of the
foreign spouse is a "high fraud" country. If the
marriage ends within
the two years, or the parties are separated, the foreign spouse can still
file for removal of the condition, either jointly with the U.S. citizen
spouse, or alone. If USCIS issues an order to show cause why the
spouse should not be deported (or "removed"), the matter becomes more serious and
should be examined by a qualified immigration lawyer. Unfortunately, the
second part of this process can take several years in some USCIS
jurisdictions in the United States. The American Immigration Lawyers
Association encourages USCIS to reduce backlogs and cut the time necessary for adjustment
of status as well as removal of conditions. We assist
our clients during the entire period of adjustment of status and removal of conditions.
If you plan to marry a foreign national, it is usually best to use the
K-1 (fiance) visa because it takes less time than obtaining approval of a
relative petition filed with USCIS.

WARNING:
Friends,
family and acquaintances are good sources of bad advice about immigration
matters. Your future in the United States is too important to trust to someone
who may want to help you but really doesn't know how. If you do not know
an immigration lawyer and feel you would be more comfortable hiring one who
practices near your place of residence, go to the American Immigration
Lawyers Association's online lawyer
referral service
.

Boyd
F. Campbell is a member of the
American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
and the Alabama State Bar
. He served as
Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of the American Bar Association's General Practice,
Solo & Small Firm Lawyers Section and was a member
of the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law from 1994 to 1998. He served
as Chair of the International Law Section of the Alabama State Bar
from 2000 to 2002. In August, 2001, he was appointed Alabama's first
practicing civil law notary by the Alabama
Secretary of State. He is included in The Best Lawyers in America
in
the field of immigration law, an authoritative reference book published by
Woodward/White.

Questions or comments
about this article may be directed to:Immigration
Law Center, L.L.C.P.O. Box 11032Montgomery, Alabama 36111-0032
USA